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ABOUT

Welcome to my site where as a historical fiction author, I showcase my works. I write exclusively about my French Canadian ancestors.

Author Joyce Derenas received her BA in English with a Concentration in Writing from Worcester State College. After working in and around the Boston area, author Joyce Derenas has retired from a career as a software technical writer. With her free time, Joyce has enjoyed numerous trips to Canada to learn more about her French-Canadian roots in southern Quebec.

 

Returning to the place of her mother’s youth, Joyce has visited the village of Saint Joseph of Beauce as often as possible, discovering more about her Quebecois family and other pioneers from this area.

TO THE AIRPORT PLEASE

To write her debut novel, the long shot, author Joyce Derenas needed to do a little flying. Her primary research has included one outstanding trip to the Yukon Territory for a few months researching at the Yukon Archives in Whitehorse and the Klondike Library housed in the Dawson Museum in Dawson. She found descendants in the YOOP (Yukon Order of Pioneers) cemetery of Dawson, and the spirit houses of Moosehide in the Yukon.

When she left for the Yukon, Joyce knew of 4 blood relatives and 2 wives. She returned back to the states having discovered 22 deceased relatives there, and meeting 4 live ones; 2 were from Ladysmith, 1 from Vancouver and 1 from Mayne Island.

Joyce also discovered another second cousin from Carcross, Yukon, a very well respected sculptor and artist.

Since being back home, one more distant relative has surfaced in Whitehorse.

MORE TRAVELING REQUIRED

Joyce has also researched some of the immense collection in the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Her immediate family numbers over 80 within a ten mile radius of her home.

Beyond time spent flying around North America, Joyce has managed to find herself at the Mother House of the Little Sisters of Quebec, the Gray Nuns, and at the present site of Villa Mastaï, now known as the University Institute in Mental Health of Quebec.

In Beauport and Saint Joseph of Beauce in Quebec, she has discovered where relatives remain at rest.

She has eaten fromage a crottes (curd cheese), boudin noir (blood sausage), sausage with saltpeter and ‘les cretons’ (ground pork cooked with either cognac, whiskey or champagne). She has sacrificed a lot to maintain her Frenchiness.

HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE ABOUT THE BEAUCE?

I would love to hear from you in English or French.

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Learn about my forthcoming Series 2 books.

3 thoughts on “ABOUT”

  1. I’ve just found your books on Twitter and followed you and I think we write in the same genre. You can check me out at http://www.lornahunting.com and you will see my Canadian roots. My first novel, “New Beginnings on Vancouver Island” has just been published here in the UK. I thought I would connect with you which I hope you will not see as an unwelcome advance. I’m ordering 4 of your books in paperback as I am sure I will love them. My real name is Jocelyn Chatterton. Kind regards.

    1. It is so lovely to connect with you, and what a find, another lover of things Canadian. Thank you so much for the sales. I so appreciate it.
      This fall, I will publish the last book in my A Klondike Gold Miner’s Life series called The Homecoming which is the live of the crusty Gaudias Poulin.
      I hope you will enjoy it.

  2. I’ve just found your books on Twitter and followed you and I think we write in the same genre. You can check me out at my website and you will see my Canadian roots. My first novel, “New Beginnings on Vancouver Island” has just been published here in the UK. I thought I would connect with you which I hope you will not see as an unwelcome advance. I’m ordering 4 of your books in paperback as I am sure I will love them. My real name is Jocelyn Chatterton. Kind regards.

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